Kriti Sanon and Anushka Sharma: Successful female actors who turned producers

Kriti Sanon is the latest female actor to hop on the bandwagon of turning producer. On Tuesday, the Adipurush actor announced the launch of her production house Blue Butterfly Films, that she’s started with her sister and actor Nupur Sanon. (Also Read: Kriti Sanon opens production house Blue Butterfly Films with sister Nupur, says ‘It’s time to do more’)

However, before Kriti, a number of ace female Bollywood actors have turned producers. The intention behind the same is either creating new content for themselves or backing new voices and talent. Below are some female actors who turned producers, often at the peak of their career.

Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt turned producer last year when she co-produced Jasmeet K Reen’s dark comedy Darlings with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment for Netflix India. The critically acclaimed film starred her in the lead role opposite Vijay Varma, and alongside Shefali Shah and Roshan Mathew. Alia’s banner is called Eternal Sunshine Productions and she hopes to create “timeless, happy and real tales.”

Deepika Padukone

Deepika turned producer in 2020 when she co-produced Meghna Gulzar’s Chhapaak with Fox Studios. The film saw her play an acid attack survivor and featured her in a role opposite Vikrant Massey. Deepika’s banner is called Ka Productions and she also co-produced Kabir Khan’s period sports drama 83 in 2021. She’s also developing the Hindi adaptation of The Intern, along with Warner Bros India. The slice-of-life film stars her and Amitabh Bachchan in the respective roles played by Anne Hathaway and Robert de Niro.

Anushka Sharma

Anushka was one of the first movers in her generation of female lead actors to open a production house. She started Clean Slate Filmz with brother Karnesh Sharma. Their debut production was Navdeep Singh’s 2015 thriller NH10. They consequently produced Anshai Lal’s 2017 romance Phillauri, and Prosit Roy’s 2018 horror film Pari. All these films starred Anushka in the lead role.

Clean Slate Filmz also bankrolled Anvitaa Dutt’s 2020 horror film Bulbbul and 2022 period film Qala, both starring Tripti Dimri, for Netflix India. They also produced Sudip Sharma’s thriller show Pataal Lok for Prime Video India and Atul Mongia’s Mai for Netflix India. However, Anushka has now stepped down from Clean Slate Filmz.

Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra and her mother Madhu Chopra started Purple Pebble Pictures in 2016. They produced regional films like Rajesh Mapuskar’s National Award-winjning Marathi film Ventilator (2016), Pakhi Tyrewala’s Nepali film Pahuna: The Little Visitors (2018), Aruna Raje’s Marathi film Firebrand (2019), and Adinath Kothare’s National Award-winning Marathi film Paani (2019). Priyanka also co-produced two films she starred in — Shonali Bose’s 2019 Hindi film The Sky Is Pink, also starring Farhan Akhtar, Rohit Saraf and Zaira Wasim, and Ramin Bahrani’s 2020 English film The White Tiger, also starring Rajkummar Rao and Adarsh Gourav, for Netflix India.

Kangana Ranaut

Kangana recently turned producer with her banner Manikarnika Films. She backed Sai Kabir’s romantic comedy Tiku Weds Sheru, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Avneet Kaur, for Prime Video India. She is also bankrolling her next directorial Emergency, in which she plays former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.